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Taiwan | Part 5

10:29

After experiencing the Taiwan's food and sights, it's about time to have a feel of their culture.

In Ten Drum Cultural Village, a refurbished sugar refinery/warehouse by Ten Drum Art Percussion Group, visitors can watch a mini drum concert and get a first-hand experience playing around with Taiwan's traditional drums.

I would say my rhythm wasn't too bad after all...

Lunch was served in a cute little drum-themed set, with soup contained within the mini drum (top right) and cutlery in the drumstick. Their grilled unagi was delicious! :)

Post-lunch, we headed onto our next destination - Sun Moon Lake.

Framed by mountains from all sides, Sun Moon Lake is a wonder of nature.

The Wen Wu Temple is a majestic-looking temple located right beside the lake. It was said that in the 1999 921 quake, more than half of the temple was destroyed but the people in the living quarters were spared when a crack went on a sharp 90 degree to avoid that particular building.

Just look at the gorgeous architecture and intricate craftsmanship! The figurines of deities afixed to the ceilings were all hard-carved and uniquely different.

One of a pair of lions guarding the temple.

The first hall, "Water and Cloud Hall" is dedicated to the God of Literature.

The Central Hall is the "Martial Sage Hall" dedicated to the God of War Guan Gong and Warrior God Yue Fei.

The Rear Hall is dedicated to Confucius.

Please bless me with intelligence and unlimited memory space of 100000GB+++ so I can remember the gazillion medical conditions, treatments and etc, aka, a walking UptoDate, the Wikipedia of the medical world.

There was a wishing fountain right in front of this stone monument and apparently one of the sponsors was Shu Qi, a famous celebrity.

I loved how organised the dangling charms look.

Outside the temple, there was a scenic spot to shoot some pictures before the sun sets.

My sister loves joining me in my photos.

One notable mention about our hotel that night was its mind-blowing plethora of courses. It had a whopping 200+ courses in total, inclusive of 50+ varieties of desserts alone.

This spread of pastries and cakes is a glutton's wildest dream!

Let's take a moment to appreciate the beautiful medium-rareness of the beef, carved on the spot. Besides that, the carving station also had pork and other roasted delights.

There was also a free-flow raw oysters, sashimi, crabs, and prawns station. OMIGAWD. I had so much fresh seafood I'm pretty sure I busted my cholesterol/purine limit for the week.

And I had a taste of kueh even in Taiwan! I shall stop with the food photos. I'm salivating from the cravings every single time I look at them.

Facilities-wise, the hotel (Fleur de Chine) had a public onsen (if you're shy, you can stay in your room for a private onsen), a recreational room with pool table, table tennis table, foosball tables, Xboxes and Wii-s. There was also a gym with sports shoes provided. 10/10 for recreational services.

Most hotels that I've stayed in Taiwan had pool tables, so our late-night recreational activities will always be a pool showdown among me, my bro and 2 other secondary school children in our tour group. I sharpened my pool skills quite a bit during that trip. HAHA.